There are probably gonna be people jumping in saying a rim brake, mechanical shift bike is never worth 1K anymore, but in this case, it’s a Time Skylon. Times are some of the highest-quality, most well-made carbon fiber frames in existence, and are manufactured with a process (“woven” socks formed around a wax blank, hardened via resin transfer molding, and then having the wax blank melted out) that is entirely unique within the bike industry. A Time is pretty much the closest you can get to a “buy it for life” frame in carbon fiber.
This one even has the Time RTM stem and handlebar, which I’m pretty sure aren’t common and are worth a good bit. Even most of the used examples I can find on Ebay at the moment are $300+ each.
The rest of the bike isn’t much to write home about – Ultegra 6800 is solid but unspectacular, especially in 2025, and the wheels are cheap Chinese carbon fairing wheels. They’ll get the job done. But that frame would be well worth upgrading and investing in and could last you decades.
3 Comments
Yup.
Oooh. I’d have to say yes.
There are probably gonna be people jumping in saying a rim brake, mechanical shift bike is never worth 1K anymore, but in this case, it’s a Time Skylon. Times are some of the highest-quality, most well-made carbon fiber frames in existence, and are manufactured with a process (“woven” socks formed around a wax blank, hardened via resin transfer molding, and then having the wax blank melted out) that is entirely unique within the bike industry. A Time is pretty much the closest you can get to a “buy it for life” frame in carbon fiber.
This one even has the Time RTM stem and handlebar, which I’m pretty sure aren’t common and are worth a good bit. Even most of the used examples I can find on Ebay at the moment are $300+ each.
The rest of the bike isn’t much to write home about – Ultegra 6800 is solid but unspectacular, especially in 2025, and the wheels are cheap Chinese carbon fairing wheels. They’ll get the job done. But that frame would be well worth upgrading and investing in and could last you decades.
Time is money.